Hyperion Financial Management

Hyperion Financial Management is the main financial reporting tool for
the Oracle Performance Management area. It can be used for more than
just accounting reports, but that is the main functionality. It’s gone
through several versions and an integration into the Oracle stack, but
it still remains a top choice in the CFO’s office for good reason.

One of the big features touted by Oracle is the systems ease of
transition to IFRS. IFRS is required for large US corporations by 2014,
with some smaller corporations allowed until 2016 for the adjustment.
This is a big deal in accounting circles, as it replaces the commonly
held GAAP principles. Where Hyperion Financial Management comes into
play is in the flexibility reporting rollup structure. Companies will
apparently be required to have GAAP reporting infrastructures in place
as the IFRS rules are implemented, for easy to audit comparisons. The
built-in audit and file archiving functionality makes it easy to store
back-end line item calculations, for instance. It also allows for
Solvency II reporting, a European insurance industry requirement.

Some
new emphasis is recent years is on sustainability reporting. With an
available starter kit, the standard accounting reports can be expanded
to encompass environmental and social KPIs for other regulatory needs.
There should be an even bigger emphasis on this in coming years.

Besides
financial reporting, it also has many other consolidation
functionalities. It can do easy currency conversions and
consolidations, as well as cross company elimination entries. As
stated, above there are powerful audit capabilities back to the source
system or file, and it easily integrates with other ERP systems
specifically for this purpose. It’s completely web-based, allowing easy
deployment to many users. There is also an interesting “what-if”
analysis tool for financial scenarios. There are also features to
assist with close procedures and reporting.